Simply Balanced Chicken Tortilla Soup

I always assumed tortilla soup would, you know, have tortillas in it. But what do I know?

Instead, it's a red broth with black beans, corn, and little hunks of chicken. Not bad. The broth is mildly spicy, and the corn and beans are nothing to complain about...although, I wouldn't have minded if there were a lot more of them. 

The soup is pretty soupy...you know, brothy, that is. It's mostly just liquid—not nearly as chunky as the picture on the box would have you believe. That alone wasn't the product's biggest weakness, as the liquid part of the soup was pretty decent and flavorful.

The chicken chunks were all near-perfect cubes, and were abnormally dark, even for dark meat chicken. They were a deep brown—such a gloomy color that I think if I hadn't known any better, I would have assumed they were little pieces of low-grade beef. Fortunately, they didn't taste nearly as bad as they looked. But once again, the soup could have used a good bit more of them.

I definitely think this melange would have benefited from little tortilla bits—either the kind that come in a little plastic bag that you add yourself or the kind that are soft to begin with and don't mind swimming around in salty soup for some indeterminate amount of time on Target's shelves. This soup was crying out for carbs but did not deliver in that department.

So I added some carbs myself in the form of good old-fashioned saltine crackers. They certainly helped, but not quite enough.

It was $2.29 for the box at the Target where we discovered it—I believe somewhere in coastal Georgia, probably near Savannah, as our recent adventures have taken us through The Jewel of the South. It's just a little pricier than your average can of soup, but the box is one ounce bigger, too. But in the end, this product just wasn't enough bang for the buck to be a repeat purchase.

I'll give the soup 6 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Hawaiian Style Pizza

I really wanted to like this pizza. I really did.

I was very hungry when I ate it, which usually helps a product's score. You know, I'm less critical when famished. A slice of plain bread seems pretty tempting when my belly is growling.

But this pizza was still disappointing. Many of you know I'm not a pork, ham, and bacon kind of guy, for the most part. However, even I like a good Hawaiian pizza every now and again. But this was not a good Hawaiian pizza.

This thing gives our 50th state a bad name. I mean, I'd still like to travel there some day—it's not our southernmost state's fault this weak excuse for a pizza has its name on it.

Unlike many other Archer Farms pizzas, this offering actually looks pretty good. One might ask for a tad more cheese, but there's a surprising amount of Canadian bacon and pineapple on it. Unfortunately, none of the toppings are particularly flavorful.

And the crust was the worst part. It was cardboard-esque—both in texture and in flavor.

Don't believe me on this one? Check out Target's own website, complete with unanimous one star reviews. Even I didn't think it was that bad. But then again, I might have found this product edible because I was extremely hungry when I tried it.

For nutrition facts, just click here.

I'll go with a 4 out of 10 on this one.

Simply Balanced Thai-Style Curry Chicken Soup

I'm definitely not an expert on Thai foods. But I have had curry from legit Thai restaurants. And I've had pretty decent curry and curry-laden foods from other stores.

This "Thai-style curry" selection doesn't strike me as being particularly authentic. It's nothing like any of the other curries I've had. But I suppose there are many different types of curries from Thailand, and this dish could be modeled after one I've never tried before.

That's not to say there isn't something Thai-esque about it. There is a spice that's definitely not American hot sauce or anything jalapeño-based. It's a spicy Thai pepper for sure. And there is a subtle, but noticeable coconut cream taste present. But nothing else seems curry-ish to me—or "curry-ous," if you will. The heat level is nice. What might have been a very boring meal definitely has some kick to it, thanks to that Asian peppery flavor, but not to the point of pain.

Otherwise, it's basically a chicken and rice soup with a few chopped veggies. And unfortunately, it's mostly rice. There's a decided lack of vegetables, and I only discovered a handful of (maybe four or five) tiny pieces of chicken in the whole container.

The carton the soup is packaged in is novel and convenient. It's shelf-stable and relatively easy to open. Although this product has a nice big chunk of your daily sodium intake, it's much less fattening than other curry dishes I've seen. For the full nutrition information and ingredients list, please click here.

I give this soup 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Pretzel Buns

As pretzel buns go, these aren't very pretzelly. They're more like regular white bread—which was slightly stale in our case—with a very thin, leathery pretzel shell. Not particularly appetizing.

They didn't ruin our burgers by any means, but they didn't really enhance them much either. We'd have been better off with regular white bread buns or potato rolls or something like that.

The buns were soft enough on the inside, they just didn't taste particularly fresh. The slightly-firmer pretzel-esque exterior was a step up from the lackluster innards of the buns. It was somewhat reminiscent of a decent, lightly-salted pretzel, but again, it was just too thin a layer to redeem the rest of the bread.

It's possible we just got a bad batch. I felt like this product had potential, so I'm almost tempted to try it again hoping for some redemption. We'd love to hear input from others on this one. Let us know your experience in the comments below.

One of our pics didn't turn out great, so if you're interested in the nutrition information for this product, please click here. Surprisingly high in calories if you ask me.

I can only give this pretzel bun product 6 out of 10 stars.

Simply Balanced Cajun-Style Rice & Beans Lunch Bowl

This is the first lunch bowl I've reviewed that's got the new Simply Balanced packaging going on. I guess that's because it's low-ish in calories and fat but high in fiber.

I think my favorite lunch bowl is still the Sesame Teriyaki one. It had by far the best taste of all, but this one might be a close second. I was skeptical of it at first, mainly because "rice and beans" don't sound as exotic as Kung Pao Noodles or Bacon Carbonara, and both of those turned out to be disappointing. With 430mg of sodium, I'm not sure if you can call this health food, but one gram of fat ain't bad if you're looking to lose some weight.

The cajun spice was fine. Nothing to complain about. It was mildly hot. Nothing earth-shattering here, but not bad for a $2.49 lunch bowl. The product was a bit soupy after adding water right up to the fill line. When I first opened the packaging, the bean and rice packet looked very small and almost empty, but everything plumped up in the hot water. The serving size still appeared diminutive, but after I ate it, I felt plenty full...and I'm a gluttonous eating machine. Must have been all that dietary fiber and salt.

Overall, this product is worthy of 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Sesame Teriyaki Lunch Bowl

I almost gave up on the lunch bowls. They've been really bad. I took a long break from reviewing them because each one I tried grossed me out.

But after months of avoiding them, I decided to give them another whirl. I saw this happy little morsel staring back at me from the shelf at Target, the price was right ($2.29, though prices may vary), and I snatched it up for one of my lunches this week. And for the first time since we started this blog, I don't regret it. This is hands down the best lunch bowl we've seen from Archer Farms thus far. See also Bacon Carbonara, Kung Pao Noodles, and Southwest Couscous.

But saying this product is better than the other lunch bowls we've tried isn't really sayin' that much. This bowl still left a little to be desired. It was far too salty. And it could have used some add-ins or little herbs that float around in the broth or something to give the texture a bit more oomph.

I do have to say, though, the taste was very good overall. It tasted like teriyaki. Granted, it's pre-packaged, cheap store brand, dehydrated powdered teriyaki—but it's passable teriyaki nonetheless, and it comes closer to quality than most of these shelf-stable noodle dishes do. You can taste sesame, and there are plenty of noodles. I poured them in a ceramic bowl and ate them with chopsticks to cut down on the cheapo factor. It actually kinda felt and tasted like a civilized meal. Considering the price, I have to say this is worth a try. It definitely beats Top Ramen.

I give this product 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Petite Quiche Pastry Collection

I rarely find myself in the mood for eggs, but I'm running out of appetizers to review at our local Target store. I think I've tried everything in their freezer at this point, but I'm sure they'll go ahead and usher in some new items very soon just to please me.

Or not.

It's not that I don't like eggs. If I'm in the mood for them, they can really hit the spot. And when I say "eggs," I really mean eggs and all egg-based products, like omelettes or quiches. They tend to be very filling and sit heavily in my stomach.

But nonetheless, I took one for the team and ate these little quiches so you'll know what to expect.

The pastry part is pretty much the same among all three varieties. It's like a pie crust. It's nothing ultra-special, but it'll brown nicely if you cook it long enough, it's very pastry-like, and it's good and flaky. I found the baking instructions to be spot on with this product, and in my experience, that's seldom the case.

The spinach Florentine kind is good, well...if you like spinach. It's kinda like a baked spinach dip with eggs.

On the Lorraine quiches, the cheese stands out the most. It's akin to a delicious egg and cheese omelette squeezed onto a tiny pastry crust. Lorraine is one sexy lady.

Before I even tasted the third variety, I smelled a beautiful campfire in the woods, complete with a skillet full of crispy bacon and egg-filled breakfast sandwich mountain pies. Just a little applewood-smoked bacon goes a long way. I think this one was my favorite.

Unlike other AF hors d'doeuvres, this product comes with two separately packaged cases of 12 quiches a piece. Each one is enough to entertain a small gathering by itself. Or you can do like me, and make each package a fattening, calorific meal for one.

I give this product 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Cinnamon Raisin Nut Trail Mix

When I first saw this on the rack there in my Target, I wondered if it favored a snacky, savory, salty, nutty flavor, or whether it was a desserty, sugary, sexy, sweet mix.

It's the latter. With just a hint of the former. It's quite cinnamony, but it's equally sugary. But I've got no complaints. This is a tie for the best Archer Farms trail mix ever. At least out of the ones I've tried.

I love almonds. And there are boatloads of whole almonds in this trail mix. There's a huge amount of cinnamon flavor, and there are weird soft and crunchy sweet things.

It is reminiscent of a traditional trail mix in that some of the main ingredients are almonds, walnuts,

and raisins. But it's improved. It's like a regular trail mix with superpowers.

It's unlike the Peanut Butter and Jelly Trail Mix in that regard, because in some ways, the PB&J mix is a reinvention of the wheel. While this cinnamon blend tastes and feels like a classic with just a few tweaks here and there, namely: the addition of cinnamon and extra sugar.

It's got a good bit of fat, as many of these mixtures do, but nut fat is "good fat" so you've got plenty of fuel for hiking or biking or climbing or whatever it is you do. I'm totally happy with this trail mix. If you like cinnamon toast and traditional trail mix, this stuff will be right up your alley.

I give this trail mix 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Pear & Gorgonzola Wood-Fired Flatbread

This is what I might refer to as a pseudo-dessert. It's not quite sweet enough to be a full-on dessert treat in my humble opinion—oh sorry, I guess we hip blogger-type people are abbreviating that to "IMHO" these days. But anyway, it's not sweet enough for dessert, as I was saying, and it's a little too sweet to be dinner, IMHO.

But that's just fine for folks like me, because I just graze all day long. I rarely eat actual meals. I grew up that way. I ate a "meal" with my family exactly three times a year: Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Other times, my "dinner" usually consisted of a bowl of cereal eaten on the piano bench in the living room, which I straddled like a horse with the food in front of me so I could watch television at the same time. So personally, I don't really mind food that defies categorization.

Likewise, this flatbread is about as dinner-like as a bowl of cereal. However, it's a bit more substantial. And it's actually really good. It might work better as an appetizer, now that I think about it.

There's not a whole lot of savoriness to it either. It's a very light flavor. Neither gorgonzola nor pear brings a heavy taste to the table. The bread, as well, has some flavor, but it's not at all overbearing. And because all flavors present are light, they blend together in a really nice way. Baking them all together sort of allows them to gel a little more, too. There's pear juice in the cheese and cheese juice on the pears—and let me state under no uncertain terms that I do NOT think fruit and cheese (like apples and cheese) is a very good combo, personally. But there are a few exceptions, as is the case with certain pizzas. In this case, think of the pineapple on a Hawaiian pizza, but not quite as pungent.

So whether you have it for dinner, dessert, or a random snack, there's a good chance it'll hit the spot. It's a unique flavor, and I think it's worth a try.

I give this product 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Honey Barbecue Ribs Chips

Most of the time, when you see "rib" flavored chips—or chips with some other barbecued meat flavor, you get a chip that simply has some tangy barbecue sauce on it...or some kind of funky steak sauce, similar to A-1. Worst case scenario, you get a chip that tastes like they fried ketchup into it or something weird like that.

Well, that was the worst case scenario that I could imagine prior to tasting these things. But these actually taste like pig flesh. Or "schwein fleisch," if you prefer it auf Deutsch.

They taste a little like pork rinds if you've ever had those, but more than that—it tastes like they took meat from an old dead pig and rubbed it all over these otherwise perfectly good, heavily-ridged, thick-cut potato chips. (They didn't actually do that, as far as I can tell. It just tastes that way).

There is a certain tang to the taste of these chips, as if the dead pig meat they rubbed all over them did have a bit of barbecue sauce already on it. But it's not a particularly good BBQ sauce. It's edible at best. Or it would be edible if it weren't mixed in with all of that swine-skin flavor.

I guess I should have taken the hint that these were especially porky chips since there's a picture of ribs right there on the bag. Know what else was on the bag? A big clearance sticker. They marked these down almost 50% and that's one of the main reasons why I bought them. That's what I get for being cheap.

That could be evidence that Target has come to their senses and decided to discontinue these things. Which would be excellent. They take up space on the shelf where tasty chips could go. They should have just labeled these "Schwein Fleisch Kartoffeln."

It wasn't just me. Sonia discovered the pigskin taste all by herself. We also both agree that there was very little natural potato taste, too. Which is unfortunate, because that could have been the saving grace of these utterly revolting chips.

As it stands, we'll have to go ahead and create the "3 star" tag just for these things. That means that this is basically the worst Archer Farms product that we've come by so far. Blech!

I give these chips 3 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Black & White Trail Mix

If you're thinkin' 'bout my baby, it don't matter if you're black or white. Or, like in this case, you're black AND white.

There's black, there's white, and there are even some colors in between: tan, brown, beige. It's one happy bag filled with commingled races of flavor living side by side in harmony.

And it tastes good, too. I've always liked the yogurt covered fruits and nuts just as much as the chocolate covered ones. They're both good, and they mix perfectly together.

But this is a really sweet bag of trail mix. It's got so much chocolate that I don't think I'd ever crave it while hiking or anything like that. It's almost a dessert type thing. The raisins and peanuts are trail mix-ish by nature, especially the ones without chocolate and yogurt. But at least half of the items in the bag are slathered with sweetness, and they'd most certainly melt in your hand on a hot summer day.

Plus, I break out if I eat any significant amount of chocolate. Especially when I'm already sweaty. So as far as this being a trail mix, I don't know if I'll ever take it out on the trails with me. But as far as this being a snack mix, or even a dessert mix, it's one of the best-tasting I've tried so far.

My wife Sonia agrees. She thinks it's quite handy for trips in the car, etc. Even though she's not technically scoring these AF products with me on this blog, I usually use her as a sounding board for my ideas. If I think a product is great and she agrees, then I know it's probably not just a personal bias I have. Likewise, if I think a product is awful and she does too, then it's most likely pretty awful to most people. Not always...but often enough.

So this blog isn't really just one man's opinion. My wife and I have different enough tastes that when we agree wholeheartedly on something, you can best bet a majority of consumers will agree with us as well. And if you disagree with us, we always invite you to leave a comment stating so below.

I give this product 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Organic Strawberry Pull-Apart Fruit Peels

Earlier this year, we reviewed AF Wild Berry Fruit Strips. They were tasty, moist, organic, and flavorful. And for the most part, all of that could be said of these strawberry dealies.

I think if you put me under extreme duress and forced me to decide which flavor was better, I'd go with the wild berry. But strawberry is very close. In fact, under most circumstances I'd say they're about the same.

One thing that is different about this product is the "pull-apart" feature. It's kinda like a slab of "fruit leather," but it's sectioned into 5 little fruit "straws." It's fun to pull them apart and all, and eating little straws is, for some reason I can't quite figure out, more appealing than eating a big flat strip. However, since the product is pleasantly moist, it's rather like dipping your fingers into a glass of syrupy apple juice each time you pull a straw from the sheet.

If you were having a picnic or eating these while hiking, you would probably want to just hold the product by the wrapper and eat it without contacting the peels themselves, otherwise you'd risk being eaten alive by ants and gnats and other insects that are attracted to fruit-covered fingers and such...you might even be pestered by larger animals like squirrels or, heaven forbid, bears. Unless of course you ate the product very quickly and were equipped with handi-wipes or something.

But how you eat them is entirely up to you. I'm just letting you know that these things are sticky, and the suggestion to pull these apart with your bare hands isn't particularly wise in my opinion.

I say all this in the most tongue-in-cheek manner possible, but seriously, I think I'd rather eat apple sauce with my bare hands than these things. They're freaking sticky. But other than that, they're pretty good.

I'll give 'em 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Italian-Style Four Cheese Macaroni & Cheese Dinner

I only know what the four cheeses in this dish are because I looked at the packaging just now. They are: parmesan, asiago, ricotta, and romano. Supposedly.

I just tasted a single, mild, pillowy white cheese with an unexceptional amount of tang and a decided lack of smack.

But it still beat the flavor of Kraft Easy Mac. No contest.

The flavor of this pasta was subtle, but it kinda grew on me. At first I missed that yellow, biting cheddar that comes in so many nondescript packets of mac and cheese sauce add-ins. But soon enough, the soft squishy sapor of the included mystery-cheese got the better of my more-attentive taste buds.

I'm not going to lie. It tasted better with Texas Pete. And even though the hot sauce dominated the flavor of the entire bowl of pasta, it was as if the dish had been created to host the fresh flavorful zip of that famous hot sauce.

It took me back to our Disneyland days, when we'd visit Pizza Port nearly every weekend, order the Count Down Chicken Fusilli, and drench it in that sexy sauce. And of course this dish lacked poultry, but it didn't need it.

The taste was clean, plain, and ethereal. It was a chance to cleanse the palate of all pretentiousness and enjoy pasta and cheese for what it was meant to be.

And it helped that Sonia boiled the shells for exactly the right amount of time. Another second longer and they would have suggested sogginess. A second shorter and they would have seemed sorely solid.

Upon first bite, I might have scored these morsels a measly six stars. But by the end of the pot, they earned an elite eight. To see a pic of the prepared product close-up, click here.

I give this product 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Peanut Butter & Jelly Trail Mix

If you like trail mixes...and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, you just might like this product, although if the bread's your favorite part, you might not enjoy it that much.

Just looking at the bag, I think it appears pretty appetizing. All those nuts and pretty pastel colors. You see those big lavender wads of who-knows-what that kind of look like pieces of chewed gum? Well, those are not soft, like I was expecting them to be. I thought they would be like yogurt chips with berry flavor or something.

They do have a berry-ish flavor, but they're actually crunchy. That disappointed me. The nuts are crunchy! What do we need more crunch for? We need smoothness. Fortunately, there are smaller "flavored bites" throughout the mix that are soft and reminiscent of yogurt chips. They come in both berry-ish flavors and peanut butter flavor.

There are also pieces of dried fruit, which are soft and juicy. They mix well with the peanuts. I think there were two different kinds. There were strawberry-flavored craisins...and I think something else...

There were no raisins in this mix, which is good. Not that I dislike raisins, but I don't think they would have gone with this very well.

All in all, I think they could do away with the crunchy chewed-gum-looking pieces and throw in more strawberry-flavored craisins and yogurt chips, er, excuse me, "fruit and peanut butter flavored bites." But it's a tasty snack, both salty and sweet, and filling, too.

My wife Sonia raved about this stuff. I think I would have given it only 6 stars, but I'll bump that up to a 7 in her honor.

This trail mix gets 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Genoa Salami Pizza with Spicy Peppers

Man, I just love a good Italian sub. All of those spiced meats, oregano, cheese, and peppers can really hit the spot sometimes.

Now imagine taking some of the best ingredients in an Italian sub and throwing them on a thin, crispy pizza crust and baking them to perfection in your oven. That's basically what we have here.

I've never tasted a meat that blended so perfectly with banana peppers as this Genoa salami did. The cover of this product mentions both "banana peppers" and "pepperoncinis," but I was pretty sure they were the same thing. You know, you always get them at Subway. Most locations label them as banana peppers, but regionally, they're also known as pepperoncinis. I certainly didn't see two types of peppers on top of this pizza, but enough with semantics. This pizza tasted great.

It also has whole milk mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and crushed red pepper already on it. Altogether, the two shining stars of this product are the pepperoncinis and the salami. You could throw a bit of those two ingredients on plain white toast and it would taste pretty good, in my opinion. The cheese and tomato sauce are present, and they certainly don't hurt the flavor, but they don't do a whole lot for it, either. Mozzarella is generally a mild cheese, and maybe AF's food gurus knew what they were doing when they made sure it played second fiddle to the meat and peppers, but I'd be very interested in finding out what this product would taste like with a bolder cheese.

The crust seemed crispier and less chewy than many other AF pizzas. I don't know if that was solely because we cooked it a tad longer or whether the crust is actually made differently in this pizza. Either way, it was pretty close to "New York-style" and it worked well with the toppings.

My wife and I both agree, this is tied for the best Archer Farms brand pizza we've had so far. We'll put it up there with the Eggplant Parm.

I give this pizza 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Bacon Carbonara Lunch Bowl

So far, AF is batting straight zeros on these lunch bowls. No wonder I see them on clearance every time I'm at Target. I was hoping that an Italian-inspired dish like this would turn out to be tastier than the Kung Pao Noodles or the Southwest Couscous, but unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

It took a great deal of stirring to completely dissolve the powder into the water. That combined with the six and a half minute heating time is a little lengthy if you happen to be in a breakroom at work where you might be sharing a microwave with a bunch of hungry co-workers who need to use it, too.

Even after stirring profusely and heating for nearly seven minutes, the pasta was still too firm, although once I let the bowl sit for four or five minutes after it was out of the microwave, the little penne noodles did soften up a tad.

The resulting entree was soupy, though I had used the indicated amount of water. The sauce was both too thin and a bit chalky. But the worst part of the product were the bacon bits.

At first, certain bites seemed worse than others, and I couldn't figure out what was causing the inconsistency. Soon, I realized that the bites with the most bacon bits were the worst ones of all. The bacon felt and tasted like cardboard, and it was almost bitter. Bitter bacon. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Terrible.

The product would have been edible if not for the bacon bits. If you happen to try this product, leave out the bacon, but sprinkle it on later just to confirm how awful it is. Without the bacon, I would have given this lunch bowl about 6 stars.

As it is, I give this product 4 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Kung Pao Noodles Lunch Bowl

I'll be blunt: these noodles taste cheap. And, well, they are cheap. Not quite as cheap as a $1 Bowl Noodles, but close. I paid $2 for this lunch, and well, you get what you pay for. 

They come with a separate package of peanuts that you add after everything else. I guess that helps prevent the peanuts from getting too soggy. There are whole dehydrated peas, some random vegetable bits, and a bunch of brown powder. It blends together ok with the noodles after heating in the microwave, but really, in the future, I think I'll steer clear of these $2 "international inspirations" and either do something like mac and cheese if I want to play it safe, or one of the $6 frozen dishes if I really want to splurge. 

The taste is a little spicy. The sauce isn't bad, but all of the other flavors just get lost in a soupy mush. Texture-wise, you can tell there's more than just noodles, but somehow I still found my mouth feeling bored. I think the peas help more than the peanuts with the overall feel of the dish, but neither one redeems it completely.

Since the $2 I spent didn't break the bank, I can't complain too much. But I also think there are better options for the money out there.

It's a noble effort in affordable foreign cuisine, but it falls a hair shy of the mark. Plus, it's got a ton of sodium. 

I give this product 6 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Spinach & Goat Cheese Wood-Fired Pizza

This pizza certainly has more flavor than the Mediterranean Pizza. That's mostly due to the goat cheese. And for most Americans, goat cheese is an acquired taste. It's a bit more pungent than most cow-cheeses that we're accustomed to, and it's a bit sour.

When I was a kid, I had really bad food allergies, especially to very common foods like wheat and milk. One of the strategies we employed to defeat the allergies was to rotate our foods. I could only have cow's milk and dairy products one out of every 4 days. The other days, I had dairy substitutes like soymilk or goat's milk. And on those "goat milk days," I also had some goat cheese with my sandwiches, etc. It took a while, but I really grew to like it.

My wife Sonia likes it, too. She grew up in L.A., where there's a plethora of fine dining establishments that find ways to incorporate high-quality goat cheese into their offerings. So between the two of us, this pizza was a pretty big hit. But make no mistake: if you don't like goat cheese, or if you've never had goat cheese, there's a very good chance this product won't agree with you.

There's also spinach, basil, tomatoes, and regular cheese on the pizza, but most of its flavor comes from the aforementioned goat cheese, which comes in thick, round slabs, as depicted on the packaging. Sonia and I wish the goat cheese were a bit more evenly distributed. A few bites will have massive goat cheese taste, and then the next few bites will have none of it. I suppose it would have been possible to manually redistribute the goat cheese with a knife or something, but we were both quite hungry and in the middle of a "feeding frenzy" of sorts, so we just plowed through the entire pizza in a matter of minutes.

Between this one and the Mediterranean pizza, I'd say this one is the victor. My wife agrees. But again, you really have to like goat cheese. Otherwise, you might find yourself scraping the little slabs of goat cheese off, and in doing so, you'll eliminate this pizza's primary source of flavor and uniqueness.

This product is worthy of 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Southwest-Style Orzo

For those of you not familiar with orzo, it's basically the illegitimate love-child of pasta and rice. It's wheat-based, but it's tiny like little grains of rice. It's usually cooked with some kind of oil, and it winds up tasting and feeling like something in between an actual grain and a small piece of pasta. One tasty brand to check out: Delallo 89508-8pack Delallo Orzo Whole Wheat Pasta - 8x17 oz. (Google Affiliate Ad).

The powder/sauce for this stuff is pretty much the same as the sauce on the Southwest-Inspired Couscous that we reviewed recently. The southwest sauce was my favorite part of both of these dishes—it has kick and good taste—though the orzo itself impressed me a bit more than the couscous did.

The orzo came out soft, with just the right amount of sauce to flavor it. Since it's being cooked and stirred on the stove top, it was easy to manually distribute the sauce evenly. It would be very hard for me to distinguish Target-brand orzo and another gourmet brand in a taste test. I think Archer Farms did this one pretty well. No major complaints. 

The price was something like $2. Unlike the couscous, it doesn't come with its own preparation bowl, and it's not supposed to be microwaved. It might take a bit longer to make, and you might dirty a pot and a dish, but in my opinion, it's worth it. If you're having something at home, I'd go with the orzo over the couscous. But if you need something for the break room at work, you might have to look for something else.

I give this product 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Southwest-Inspired Couscous Lunch Bowl

A weird thing happened when I opened this package. The little balls of dry couscous started climbing up the sides of the round plastic black bowl like bugs trying to escape from a trap. Fortunately, I didn't panic, and I realized that it was actually the static electricity I had generated while unwrapping and opening the packaging that was causing the couscous to move on its own. It weirded me out a bit, but I pressed on and continued preparing this couscous dish.

It's been a while since I've had couscous. I thought I remembered liking it, but after this meal, I'm not really so sure. It wasn't terrible by any means, but really liking couscous is definitely a prerequisite for enjoying this bowl.

I added the recommended amount of water and stirred it for quite while before popping it in the microwave. I thought that it might actually need more water, since some would undoubtedly evaporate while heating, but when it was done, there was an excess of water instead, though some more of it did get absorbed while "fluffing" the couscous with my fork, as recommended on the preparation instructions.

Despite copious stirring and fluffing, the powder flavoring wasn't distributed evenly. It seemed to settle at the bottom, making the top layers too bland and the bottom layers too strong. The flavoring had a nice southwestern kick to it, and it was flavorful as well—like a good southwestern style salad dressing almost. Mmmm...salad dressing from an OXO Salad Dressing Shaker, Black (Google Affiliate Ad)! The couscous itself felt and tasted instant, which of course, it is, but you never want instant stuff to taste that way. I had forgotten how gritty and unusual the texture of couscous is, and I think the quick microwave preparation might enhance those potentially-negative properties of the couscous. As I said before, you really have to love couscous to make this purchase worth it.

Our bowl was on special for $2.19. And considering that it's relatively healthy, save for a hefty dosage of daily sodium, it wouldn't be a terrible lunch if you happened to be a fan of the taste and texture. Unfortunately, I wasn't. Also, the last little bit of couscous is nearly impossible to get out of the bowl with a fork, as there are frustrating little grooves for them to hide in on the sides of the container. All things considered, I don't see myself making this purchase again any time soon.

I give this 5 out of 10 stars.